Ashlesha

Ashlesha is considered as one of the most feared nakshatras according to the belief of many Vedic astrologers of ancient India as well as many Vedic astrologers of today. A strong influence of this nakshatra or sometimes even a reasonable influence of this nakshatra in a horoscope can make many Vedic astrologers say fearful and bad things about the native of the horoscope. The presence of the Moon in this nakshatra leads to the formation of GandMool dosh according to the beliefs of Vedic Jyotish and many other fearful things are also associated with the strong influence of this nakshatra in a horoscope. Ashlesha is taken as the ninth nakshatra among the 27 nakshatras which are considered important in Indian Astrology for making calculations from horoscopes based on Vedic Jyotish. Ashlesha also completes the first set of nine nakshatras where each of these nine nakshatras is associated with the lordship of one of the nine planets. It should be noted here that Vedic Jyotish assigns the planetary lordship of three nakshatras to each one of the nine planets. Starting from Ashvini, the first nakshatra and going till Revati, the final nakshatra, the lordship of the nine planets over these 27 nakshatras follows a regular pattern according to Vedic Jyotish and it repeats itself at fixed intervals. For example, Ketu is the planetary lord of the first nakshatra called Ashvini and accordingly Ketu is considered as the planetary lord of the tenth nakshatra named Magha and the Nineteenth nakshatra called Moola according to Vedic Jyotish. It can be seen that all three nakshatras of Ketu are placed at an interval of 9 nakshatras and same is the case with the nakshatras assigned to the other eight planets which means that Venus will be the planetary ruler of second, eleventh and twentieth nakshatras and so on with the other planets and nakshatras.

Moving forward, the literal meaning of the word Ashlesha as interpreted by Vedic Jyotish is Coiling or Entwining which will become clearer by analyzing the symbol of this nakshatra. According to Vedic Jyotish, a coiled snake is taken as a symbol of this nakshatra and hence the meaning of the term Ashlesha can be found explained in the symbol of this nakshatra. Snakes are considered as one of the most fearful creatures since ancient times in many civilizations and most of the people are very much scared of snakes even till this day and accordingly the association of a coiled snake to Ashlesha gives birth to fear in the mind of many people interested in Indian Jyotish. And this fear of Ashlesha preached by many Vedic astrologers is not only due to the fact that a coiled snake is the symbol of this nakshatra but also due to the more important fact that the Serpant Gods also known as Sarp Devtas in Indian mythology, are the ruling deities of this nakshatra according to Vedic Jyotish. These serpent gods include Nagas which are considered to be half serpent and half human kind of creatures according to the beliefs of Vedic mythology and some other kinds of serpent gods. So this nakshatra is associated with many qualities which are the trademark qualities of serpents.

Mystery is the first quality which is associated with serpents or snakes in general. Snakes are considered to be very mysterious creatures and this is one of the reasons why most of the people are afraid of them. Snakes are also considered as deceptive, hypnotic and poisonous creatures and most of these qualities of snakes are relayed through Ashlesha. Just like the snakes can be very passive and patient most of the times but can show a surprising amount of activeness and agility when they need to, accordingly the natives under the strong influence of Ashlesha can also be very secretive, manipulative and can also have a tendency to be coldblooded like snakes which can make them very dangerous persons if their intentions and actions are directed towards harming the other people around them for getting some sort of benefit. Ashlesha natives also have a tendency to be mysterious like snakes and it can be very difficult for the people around them to judge as to what exactly is going on their mind at any given point in time. Such natives like to keep secrets and they do not share their inner thoughts and many of their personal experiences even with their closest relatives and friends. Ashlesha natives always have a sense of insecurity of one kind or another and this is the reason why they do not share their mind with the others and keep a very big part of themselves secret from the others.

Indian Jyotish assigns Mercury as the ruling planet for this nakshatra and according to the beliefs of many Vedic astrologers, many negative shades and qualities of Mercury are relayed through Ashlesha. The negative qualities of Mercury like deceptiveness, cunningness and other likewise qualities are relayed through this nakshatra. All parts of Ashlesha fall in the sign of Cancer ruled by the Moon due to which the Moon also has influence over this nakshatra. But it should be kept in mind that according to most of Vedic astrologers practicing in Indian Jyotish, the influence of serpent gods on Ashlesha is the strongest among all the influences that this nakshatra has. So even the influence of a caring and motherly planet like Moon does not bring much good to this nakshatra according to many Vedic astrologers and on the contrary, some of the negative qualities of Moon also find expression through this nakshatra according to some prevalent beliefs of Vedic Jyotish. The ability of the Moon to connect to masses and influence them is used in a negative way through this nakshatra and accordingly natives under the strong influence of Ashlesha use and exploit the masses to gain profits. Such natives are very good at fooling the people around them and their public image can be quite opposite to their actual character and as a result they have good chances of being in positions of powers and respect which is mainly due to the fact that the public perceives them as very good persons when they can be quite the opposite.

And though most of the available Vedic Jyotish literature associates only bad things with this nakshatra, but in my experience, this is not always the case and I have witnessed some people who have strong influence of this nakshatra in their horoscopes and they are making good and positive use of the energy of this nakshatra. On a positive level, Ashlesha can bless the native under its influence with very good business skills, the ability and sense danger before time and act in advance accordingly, deep analytical nature and a good insight which can help them get to the root of the matters and understand things in details. Some specific influence of Ashlesha can also bless the native with supernatural and paranormal powers or it can make the native connected to these powers from time to time. The explanation for these kinds of experiences and powers can be explained on the basis of Kundilni Shakti or Kundlini Power. Only a very small number of Vedic Astrologers believe that Ashlesha is directly related to the Kundlini Shakti inside the body of every human and it is important to note here that the symbol of this Kundlini Shakti as shown in Vedic mythology is very much similar to the main symbol of Ashlesha which is a Coiled Snake. So it certainly establishes some kind of connection between Ashlesha and the Kundlini Shakti and since a person can very easily connect to supernatural powers once his Kundlini is activated, which normally stays in passive or sleeping mode inside the body of every human, so the energy of Ashlesha can make the native experience supernatural events and connect to the other worlds. It is again interesting to note here that the Kundlini which is considered to look like a coiled snake according to Indian mythology, stays in passive or sleeping mode inside the body of every human just like a snake stays passive or in sleeping mode for most of the time.

A very small number of natives under the strong and particular influence of Ashlesha can experience some vibrations in their Kundlini region and as a result their Kundlini can get partially activated and even a small fraction of Kundlini activation can give birth to many powers and at the same time it can enhance the working capacity of all the senses and organs to great extents. Such natives have a very sharp sense of intuition and they can sense the coming events in advance. Some of them see the future events in dreams whereas some of them just get an intuition that something particular is going to happen and that something actually happens. Such natives are blessed with the power to unveil most of the mysteries of this world as well as some mysteries of the other worlds. So the energy of Ashlesha can also act in a positive way and it can bless the native with some wonderful things which most of the other nakshatras cannot. People under the influence of Ashlesha nakshatra can be seen in various professional spheres practicing as people dealing with all kinds of mysterious professions like detectives, mystery novel writers, spies, secret agents and other likewise professions, people dealing in fields which include snakes or poisons like snake charmers, drug dealers, cigarette industry, chemical industry and other likewise professions, diplomats, manipulators, thieves, smugglers, con men, lawyers, magicians, psychics, tantrics and other people dealing with paranormal and supernatural fields and many other professions. Ashlesha natives are also seen practicing in various kinds of trades and businesses as a result of the influence of Mercury on this nakshatra.

And now coming to some other facts about Ashlesha which are considered important in Indian Jyotish for making some specific calculations like gun Milan for the purpose of horoscope matching for marriage, Vedic astrology considers Ashlesha as a female nakshatra and though no obvious reason is given for this classification of Ashlesha in any of the available Vedic Jyotish literature, in my opinion it can be due to the fact that the Kundlini Shakti which is very much similar to the symbol of this nakshatra is taken as a female entity in Indian mythology. Indian Jyotish considers Ashlesha as harsh in nature and active in functioning and both of these classifications can be understood from the above mentioned functioning of this nakshatra. Vedic Jyotish assigns Shudra Varna to this nakshatra and the Gan assigned to this nakshatra is Rakshas and both of these classifications can again be understood from the kind of qualities associated by most of the Vedic astrologers with this nakshatra. Vedic astrologers assign the element of Water to this nakshatra and most surprisingly the Gun assigned to this nakshatra is Sattawic which does not match with most of the qualities associated with this nakshatra as well as the functioning of this nakshatra according to prevalent Vedic beliefs. Here again, it is interesting to note that the Kundlini Shakti which lies in sleeping mode inside every human, is nothing but pure energy and anything pure can very well be considered Sattawic. So it can again be said in the end that Ashlesha is not an easy nakshatra to understand and though it works through its negative aspects most of the times in present day and age, it can still exhibit very positive energy in some cases which can become a cause of confusion for many Vedic astrologers of today.

ByHimanshu Shangari

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